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T8 Airport and South line
The Airport & South Line (commonly called the East Hills Line) is a suburban commuter rail line in Sydney, Australia. It connects the Sydney central business district with the southwestern suburbs via Sydney Airport. The line is part of the Sydney Trains network. The line began operating on 26 November 2017, when the T2 Airport, Inner West & South Line was split in two. Sydney Trains' predecessor CityRail operated the Airport & East Hills line over an identical route between 2000 and 2013. The line is marked with the sign on network maps and at stations. History T8 traverses several railway lines; the City Circle, New Southern (Airport), East Hills and Main South lines. The origins of the current train service can be traced back to the opening of the East Hills line in 1931. The East Hills line was extended to Glenfield in 1987 (plus the opening of Holsworthy station), where it joins the Main South line. The Airport line from Green Square to Wolli Creek opened in 2000, providing an additional pair of tracks into the city. The East Hills line was opened in 1931. Electrification only extended as far as Kingsgrove. Services on the non-electrified section were by CPH railmotor, supplemented by through steam trains from Central in peak hours. The section between Kingsgrove and East Hills was opened for electric services on 17 December 1939. Services generally ran all stations from East Hills via Tempe and Sydenham, to the city. Occasional services terminated at Riverwood, Kingsgrove, and Padstow. Most trains used to stop at Erskineville and St Peters, which are now only served by the T3 Bankstown Line. When services on the Glenfield extension commenced, there were only limited services from Campbelltown via East Hills during peak hours only; however, in 1988 an all-day half-hourly service was provided. Local (all stations) services generally ran every 15 minutes from East Hills. A new station between Glenfield and East Hills was constructed at Holsworthy, which opened in 1987. Once the Airport line opened, the running patterns of trains changed. The "flying junctions" near Central Station were altered to give the Airport line its own platforms (21 & 23) at Central. Local (all stations) trains generally were timetabled to run from East Hills via the airport, peak hour express trains from Campbelltown run along the original route via Sydenham, taking newly built express tracks between Kingsgrove and Wolli Creek Junction. The Airport line stations (except Wolli Creek) are operated by a private company, the Airport Link Company, as part of a public private partnership (PPP). Under the deal, the private company would cover the costs of building four of the stations. In return, they would operate those stations for 30 years and have the right to impose a surcharge on fares for their use. The company's involvement was predicated on passenger estimates and train reliability guarantees that later proved to be optimistic. The NSW Government would fund (and own) the railway itself and Wolli Creek station. The Airport Link consistently failed to meet patronage targets. In 2000, the Airport Link Company went into receivership, exposing the government to costs of around $800 million; it was put up for sale in early 2006. State Rail blamed "lower than expected patronage" and stated it was working with the company to increase it. In October 2005, the government and the company signed a revised agreement on revenue and patronage, settling the latter's claims against the former. The stations were purchased by Westpac. In 2009 the business made a profit of A$5.8 million. In 2010 it increased to A$9.3 million. In March 2011 it was announced that the government would cover the cost of the station access fee at Green Square and Mascot stations, meaning that passengers no longer need to pay a surcharge to access these stations. A fee remains in place for Domestic Airport and International Airport stations. Patronage on the link had been growing at 20% per year, but between March and June 2011 patronage at Green Square and Mascot increased by 70% as a result of the reduced fares. The early 2010s saw a shift in how public transport services are delivered in New South Wales. The state government created a new transport authority, Transport for NSW, in 2011. CityRail was rebranded to Sydney Trains as the operator of Sydney's commuter rail services in 2013. These changes saw Transport for NSW take control of the timetabling and branding of services. Transport for NSW introduced a new timetable in late 2013 that saw the Airport and East Hills Line replaced by the T2 Airport, Inner West & South Line. This new line was created by combining three of CityRail's lines. Operationally, the services between Macarthur and the city via the East Hills and Airport lines remained much the same as before. The 2017 timetable saw the 2013 branding changes partially wound back. The T2 line was split in two. The new T2 consists of services from Leppington to the city via Granville, with a branch to Parramatta being added. Services from Macarthur to the city via Sydney Airport or Sydenham were transferred to the new T8 line. The T8 inherited the green colour of the old T2 and the Airport and East Hills Line. T5 services were also modified to no longer travel to and from Campbelltown, instead starting and terminating at Leppington. These changes mean the section of the network between Glenfield and Macarthur is served exclusively by services operating via the East Hills railway line for the first time. Stations |} Gallery Stations Town_Hall_Railway_Station_Platform_2.jpg|Town Hall Wynyard_railway_station_stairs_at_top_of_p_3_%26_4.jpg|Wynyard Circular_quay_railway_station_exterior_from_water.jpg|Circular Quay St_James_Station_Platform_1.jpg|St James MuseumStation.jpg|Museum CentralStation.jpg|Central Redfern_railway_station.jpg|Redfern StPetersStation.jpg|St Peters SydenhamStation.jpg|Sydenham GreenSquareStation.JPG|Green Square MascotStation.jpg|Mascot DomesticAirportStation.jpg|Domestic Airport InternationalAirportStation.jpg|International Airport WolliCreekStation.jpg|Wolli Creek TurrellaStation.jpg|Turrella BardwellParkStation.jpg|Bardwell Park BexleyNorthStation.jpg|Bexley North KingsgroveStation.jpg|Kingsgrove BeverlyHillsStation.JPG|Beverly Hills NarweeStation.JPG|Narwee RiverwoodStation.JPG|Riverwood PadstowStation.JPG|Padstow RevesbyStation.jpg|Revesby Panania.jpg|Panania EastHillsStation.jpg|East Hills HolsworthyStation.JPG|Holsworthy GlenfieldStation.jpg|Glenfield MacquarieFieldsStation.jpg|Macquarie Fields IngleburnStation.jpg|Ingleburn MintoStation.jpg|Minto LeumeahStation.jpg|Leumeah CampbelltownStation.jpg|Campbelltown MacarthurStation.jpg|Macarthur Fleet ASet.jpg|Waratah A Set BSet.jpg|Series 2 Waratah B Set SydneyTrainsMset.jpeg|Millennium M Set (weekdays only) SydneyTrainsKsetNew.jpeg|K Set (weekdays only) CityRail-Cset-C13-at-BardwellPark.jpg|C Set (weekdays only) Category:Sydney Trains Category:Sydney Trains Lines Category:City of Sydney Category:Bayside Council Category:Georges River Council Category:City of Canterbury Bankstown Category:City of Liverpool Category:City of Campbelltown